Hawaii update

Yesterday, Monday, my mom, dad, and Nan got in. My mom and dad came in first in the morning. Rillz and I met them at the airport. Rillz felt really sick. He had a fever and was shaking all night, sore throat... the whole bit. So he just dropped me off with my parents and went back to the house, took meds and slept ALL day. In the meantime I hung out with my parents. We went to try on my dress and find my mom a dress to wear for the wedding. I took them to Zippys to eat. And then we went to where my mom and dad are staying in Waianae. My dad and I went walking on the beach together for a while. It was nice. That night we had to pick up Nan at the airport so went back into town and stopped at the Navy Commisary before to pick up groceries. That was my Monday. I got to spend it with my parents.

Today, Tuesday, Brent came into town. Kristi, Jeff, the boys, Rillz, mom, dad, Nan, Brent and I all went to Pearl Harbor. It was nice to revisit now that I am actually old enough to care and understand. I actually took pictures today.

After Pearl Harbor, Rillz and I took off back to the house. We had a 3 hour job ahead of us. We cleaned and filled 180 bottles of soy sauce for our wedding favors. Girlie helped quite a bit too. Thanks :) Now I just have 100 more for the Idaho reception.

On a side note: Girlie and I went to Longs grocery store and someone crapped in the middle of the shampoo aisle. So GROSS! A huge pile of doodoo just sitting there.

Tomorrow will be busy. Swap meet in the morning, pick up dress and bridal party outfits, pay final bill for reception (yikes!), find mens shoes, stay at our friends Davy and Darcy.... the list goes on. Better get my sleep! Goodnight.

Hawaii so far...

My (oops I mean our) wedding is in a week! Crazy!!! I (I mean we) got into Hawaii on Monday. We started meeting with vendors Tuesday and getting everything in order. My soon to be mother in law said she knew a really good seamstress that could do my dress. I wasn't worried because I just wanted a simple dress in aloha print material. How could you screw that up? On Tuesday that was the first place we went. OH MY GOSH!!! It was worse than the worst image I had in my head. The lady told me, "The picture you gave me just looked so plain so I added this.. and this... and this". Oh hell no. How do I get out of this one? So we kindly told her this is NOT what we were looking for but we would pay for the material that it cost her. The dress basically looked like this except for strapless so no sleeves and just went straight across. But the material and all that crappy doiley looking stuff and lace... yep. That was on there.

It's like that dress came straight out of 1990. Needless to say, I had no dress. I will admit I had a break down. The only time I have cried (so far) over any wedding stuff. I just felt hopeless. How was I going to find a new one in a place a didn't know without my sisters or mom. Rillz took me around places that day. We got stressed and finally said screw it... lets go to the beach. So we spent a couple hours on the beach. How nice!

Wednesday we woke up and went for a long walk. Then went searching for a dress. I got my bridesmaids dresses made at a place called T & L muumuu factory and shipped them to Hawaii. So I had a brilliant idea to look them up and see if they were on Oahu. They were! So we went. Everything on the floor that was already made was way to short. Of course. I mean, I do tower over everybody. So we told them our situation. Just so happens that while we were there, the dress designer was there too and totally willing to make my dress how I want it in a week! FOR REAL! The stress just melted. Better yet, they said they would just make Rillz's shirt and the groomsmens shirts. Those ladies in that shop are AMAZING! I have already gone in for a dress fitting. I LOVE it so far!

Wednesday night we met with the florist Christine. She has been great too! Helping with so much. And then went to meet Bing at the Pacific Beach Hotel where our reception is going to be. Everything went so smooth and easy.

Thursday we met with Reverand Mike Nelson. We were a little sad that a close family friend wasn't able to marry us to make it more special. But Reverand Nelson was nice enough. We also met the photographer. She is so funny. I can't wait to work with her on photos! Her company is Just once photography. I found her on craigslist so was a little worried. But all is good. Thursday Rillz's sister, husband and baby came into town. We were all excited to see them. That night we had a lot of family over for the baby's birthday and a cousin, Nathan, birthday.

Friday Rillz and I just hung out with family in the morning and then went to Davy and Darceys house to relax. And Rillz wanted to watch the BSU game (Davy used to play for BSU so loves watching the games).

Today is Saturday and we are getting ready for Graceys (our niece) first birthday. Let me tell you, first birthdays hawaiian style are NUTS! Spend thousands of dollars on them and we are expecting 250-300 people. Yep... NUTS! So we have been putting together goody bags and preparing food.... the list goes on. Kristi and Jeff and the boys come into today in about an hour to be there for the party too. They are staying until the 27th (when we leave back to Idaho). I am excited. They are staying at Rillz's parents house with us. Don't worry. The house has PLENTY room! So that's how things are going so far. Time to go help again...

P.S. I haven't even taken one picture yet with my camera. So terrible.

Wedding Plans

Time is FLYING! I have 3 weeks until leaving for Hawaii. I am so excited to go! Ready or not here it comes! Actually, I am very ready for the day to come. I don't want to think about wedding planning anymore. I am extremely excited to finally be married to Rillz in a month. I am wanting to blog some things about the wedding.


Here are our colors...
Obviously pictures don't do them justice. But it's green and orange.

Our Save the Date card....

Our wedding invites...

I have the flowers, bridesmaid dresses, hair picked, ceremony set up, food picked, blah blah but I want to wait for the actual wedding to happen and share pictures from that instead, just in case it turns out different from the pictures.

One thing I do love... Getting the RSVP cards back in the mail. They are so fun to get and open up! Haha.
Alright, that's all I have time for now. Need to go make dinner.

Yard Sales!!

I went to some yard sales today. Got some awesome deals!

Bought all these clothes for $8. Three of them are from Ann Taylor. The dress, which fits me perfect and looks SO cute, was over $100 at Dillards (I looked it up). The Green wool coat is adorable! Ok, enough from me.

Rillz really wanted this sushi stuff. He loves going to yard sales with me! When he finds something he wants he will just hand it to me and say "Mindy, I want this" Ha! Makes me laugh. But, my purchasing technique at a yard sale is amazing if I do say so myself! So here is everything I bought for $15. All those yellow/blue things are chopsticks with a napkin and placemats (can you say... SUSHI PARTY!!). We now have a ton of bamboo sushi rolls and paddles. We also got those brita filters that are SPENDY (still a price tag on it that says $25)! And that yellow bottle thing is a dog water bottle. There is also a really nice sushi platter (not pictured) that is currently in my dishwasher . Oh and the best is the dog collar I picked up for Malu. I brought it home and looked at it to see if it fit and the collar is a COACH collar. Haha. My dog owns something coach and I don't. So funny.

Ok, so my yard sale technique...

Rule #1: Always ignore the price tag (if there is one)

Rule #2: Don't ask "how much is this" or "what is the lowest you will take" or "will you go lower"

Rule #3: You say the price first and ALWAYS low ball! May seem like a crazy offer, but you never know! Once you offer a price you can't go lower so start low.

Rule #4: Pile up all your great finds and approach a barter for the price of it ALL. Not individual items. For instance the clothes I bought today... I gathered them all in one pile and asked the lady, "Would you take $5 for these". She hesitated big time and said "I will take $8". Sounded great to me. I am not dumb, I know how much those clothes are REALLY worth. If I would have approached with individual items or asked ahead of time she would have wanted more for the dress and coat. Piles fluster people so they typically just say yes to the price and therefore you are more likely to get a better bargain.

Rule #5: Never bring your purse with you to a yard sale. Leave it in the car. Stash your money in your pockets.

Rule #6: Before approaching the person running the sale, split out your bills. Put in your hand your starting offer price and put the rest of your money away. When bartering hold the money out for the person to take. More likely to say ok!

Rule #7: Always be ok with walking away from an item. A small select of people won't budge. Unless it is something you really wanted and willing to pay asking price, just put it down and say thanks and walk away.

These approaches are very intimidating and take time to get used to. But you will most likely get better bargains out of people. And sometimes, the price tag on the item is already SUPER low and there is no reason to negotiate. Like, if there is a VitaMix for $35. Right, Kristi?!? Haha.

I think bartering is a lot of fun and now I do it for everything, not just yard sales. Good luck!

Camping!

I went camping with the Miller clan. Rillz wanted to go as well but I guess someone has to work. Our time line to leave was 10:30. With a few hiccups in getting the truck packed we finally left about 1:00. We were headed to Sagehen Reservoir. About 2 1/2 hours away. Kristi and I thought we were going to die off a cliff on the way there. Poor Jeff had to deal with us freakin out. We got to the campgrounds and there was hardly anything available. We finally found a spot to set up camp.

We set up the tent... phew, all the parts were there. The tent was big enough for all of us.
Me and Breckie boy. He was happy happy!
Gunnar was a fun little boy to camp with! When he wasn't WAY overly tired he was great and helped with everything!
This kid would NOT stop eating rocks! He would pack his mouth full if we weren't watching. Such a stinker.
Peak-a-boo


Watch out... a deer! Haha. Ok, it's lame but Gunnar thought I was funny!


We had to go find wood for our camp fire. We road our bikes up a trail and found some. Jeff had to saw a log up, and he did some of it with a baby on his back. Oh and Jeff road his bike with Brecken in the backpack! Ha! Brecken fell asleep and we thought he was dead because how could he possibly fall asleep with all that jerking around? Don't worry, no babies were harmed.

After we collected the wood we put it in the kids bike trailer. Hence why Brecken wasn't riding in that and as you will see nor was Gunnar.

Gunnar road up the trail in the bike trailer but it being filled with wood on the way back Gunnar clearely wouldn't fit. So... this is how he road back. With Kristi on her bike! No Gunnar's harmed in this attempt.

We took Rillz's truck up and brought him back a souvenir. The souvenir kinda found us!
The next day (saturday a.m.) we all went on a 4 mile hike. It took us 4 hours! but was great and relaxing. Besides Gunnar and Jeff (and by no choice, Brecken) almost falling down the side of the mountain into the lake, everything went pretty smooth.

The Miller family 2011! You like Gunnar's pants? He didn't pack any pants. The morning was still kind of cold so Gunnar just wore his jammie bottoms. He was embarrassed at first. He asked me and Kristi if he looked like a girl. We then realized he thought the jammies under the shorts looked like leggings like the little girls wear right now. Oh, and how about Breckens socks? Someone forgot to pack Brecken some socks so he has Jeff's socks on.

We also went canoeing and bike riding again. It was a fun camping trip! We plan on going again next month. :)

How the pool came about...

Two summers ago Gunnar came over to our house to have a campout in the backyard. I was still at work so Rillz had to hang with Gunnar for the afternoon. When I got off work I came home to Rillz and Gunnar filling up a pool. Wow. Cool. I wonder why we are now owners of a $100 pool. The story goes like this...
Rillz- I bought Gunnar a pool
Mindy- Wow that's a big pool for Gunnar
Rillz- I had to buy this one. I took Gunnar to Walmart for a kiddie pool and showed him the little pools. We walked down the pool aisle and he saw this one and wanted it.
Mindy- You let a 3 year old pick out the pool?
Rillz- I had to... he was about to cry. I couldn't have him throw a tantrum in Walmart. I didn't know what else to do. If he threw a fit, I might have hit him.
Mindy- Hahahaha! You panicked and gave into a 3 year old. How funny!

So, that is how Gunnar got the Rivera household a new big "kiddie" pool. The best... that first year Gunnar was afraid to go in it and didn't even use it at all.
Last year we didn't set it up. Just didn't have time. This year our backyard is a little more organized and we set it up. It would fit 4 adults hot tub style. Rillz was determined... this year Gunnar WILL get into his pool!
We had a bbq last week with Heidi and Kristi's family over. It was nice and sunny and Gunnar GOT IN his pool! He loved it and so did Brecken. Cami... not so much. I also bought a hammock on the 4 of July. So comfy. Love it!
We bought a cover this year that makes the pool water warmer. It's nice.

My new hammock! Love it.

My new 3 home remedies that WORK

The last couple weeks I have discovered 3 home remedies that REALLY work!


First issue: The little boy I nanny had a band-aid on and when it came off the adhesive left that terrible crappy sticky stuff. I tried scrubbing with soap and water, alcohol.... to no avail. I googled how in the heck do I get this off of skin?


The answer... baby oil! There was some around the house and I decided to give it a shot. Holy cow! It worked. The band-aid adhesive came off SO easily with baby oil. Didn't even have to scrub!

+ =
Takes off bandaid adhesive easily!

Second issue: Last week at work my boss bought new little plastic cups for Jack. She had soaked the cups in soapy water to loosen the price tag adhesive. Didn't work. Uhhh... I hate those dumb price stickers. The baby oil worked so well on skin that I thought Ah Ha! It should work on adhesive on plastic right?!? WRONG. Got none of the adhesive off. I didn't want to scrub anymore so again, google it. When in doubt... google it! Had several ideas. WD40... um no not on something a child will drink out of. Olive oil... sounds to greasy and just like baby oil so no thanks. And then, peanut butter. Haha. Yeah right. Tried it anyways and OH MY GOSH! Miracles happened. Spread a little peanut butter on the plastic where the price tag sticker is and shabam off the price tag went easily. Peanut butter... really!?! Whatever works. I even had to use the chunky peanut butter because that is all there was. Haha.
+



=


Easy price tag removal


Third issue: Last Sunday Rillz and I went on a 30 mile bike ride. It felt so great! I put sunblock on my back, shoulders, face... but oops forgot my arms and legs. For 5 hours my white, pastey skin was exposed to nice warm sun. Which equals SUNBURN. Talk about OUCH! So naturally I was a beautiful, painful shade of red. The first burning day I smothered myself in special Maui aftersun care and aloe vera. Wasn't doing the trick. Google didn't disappoint the other two times so why not give it a whirl again. Suggestions... wet the arm, pour baking soda on area, and then a rag soaked in vinegar on the baking soda. This is to help with the pain. Sounded like sizzling bacon. Kinda fun to listen to. Cooled my arms a bit. Oh yeah, I decided to experiment too. Only do the new ideas on my arms and leave my legs with just putting lotion on them. Just to see if there was any difference. Anyways, I came across an idea to put black tea on the burn. So I did. Wow! Love the results. The next day didn't hurt AT ALL and the redness went down so much. I will be using black tea the minute I see a sunburn on my skin. My legs a week later are still a nice bright red color and hurt a few more days after the arms stopped. AMAZING!

Aloe Vera, common sunburn reliever. I found it to be the worst option OVERAL! The gel tightened my skin making it more painful for me to move my arms. Spraying vinegar worked better! This got a big thumbs down.


Avon aloe vera spray was soothing for a whole 30 seconds time and the maui island sun lotion softened my skin but was not affective long term.

+

=

pain free and less redness much quicker!

Of course, the best suggestion is DON'T fricken get burned in the first place!

Nice picture of my lovely leg burn. Not smart... I know. My legs are still red and my arms are kinda tan thanks to black tea.

I would like to thank google for everything I know... Haha! But these remedies truly do work! It's amazing. When needed, give 'em a try.